(1)The duties of the Gas Council shall include the duty to promote and assist the coordinated development of efficient and economical gas supplies in Great Britain.
(2)Without prejudice to the power of the Gas Council under section 2(2) of the [1948 c. 67.] Gas Act 1948 (in this Act referred to as " the principal Act") to perform services for, or act on behalf of, Area Boards, that Council shall have power—
(a)to manufacture gas, to get or acquire gas in or from Great Britain or elsewhere, and to supply gas in bulk to any Area Board, and
(b)to manufacture, treat, render saleable, supply or sell any such solid fuels, by-products and products as are mentioned in paragraph (c) of section 1(2) of the principal Act (powers of Area Boards), and
(c)to carry on all such activities as it may appear to the Council to be requisite, advantageous or convenient for them to carry on for or in connection with the exercise of their powers under either of the foregoing paragraphs.
(3)Where the Minister, after consultation with the Area Board, if any, within whose area the supply is to be given, has authorised the Gas Council to do so, the Gas Council shall also have power to supply gas to any person in Great Britain or elsewhere, and the Gas Council may exercise that power notwithstanding the provisions of section 52 of the principal Act (which restricts the supply of gas by persons other than Area Boards).
(4)The Gas Council, if and so long as they exercise any of the powers conferred on them by this Act, shall so exercise those powers as to secure that the revenues arising from such exercise are not less than sufficient to meet their outgoings in respect thereof properly chargeable to revenue account, taking one year with another.
(5)In carrying out, in the exercise and performance of their functions, any measures involving substantial outlay on capital account, the Gas Council shall act in accordance with a general programme settled by them from time to time with the approval of the Minister.
(6)In exercising and performing their functions the Gas Council shall promote the welfare, health and safety of persons in their employment.
(7)Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on any instrument which is certified to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue by the Gas Council as having been made solely for the purpose of conveying or transferring from an Area Board to the Gas Council any property, interest or right for the purpose of enabling the Gas Council to exercise the powers conferred on them by subsection (2) of this section:
Provided that no such instrument shall be deemed to be duly stamped unless either it is stamped with the duty to which it would but for this subsection be liable, or it has, in accordance with the provisions of section 12 of the [1891 c. 39.] Stamp Act 1891, been stamped with a particular stamp denoting that it is not chargeable with any duty or that it is duly stamped.
(8)Part I of the [1956 c. 68.] Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1956 shall not apply to any agreement made by the Gas Council under subsection (2) of this section with any Area Board or group of Area Boards for, or for regulating,—
(a)the acquisition from, or supply to, the Board or Boards of gas in bulk ; or
(b)the supply to the Board or Boards of solid fuels, by-products or products;
not being an agreement under which any Board accepts, or is treated as accepting, a restriction on the persons or classes of persons from whom gas or any other substance of the description dealt with by the agreement is to be acquired.
(9)The Acts mentioned in Schedule 1 to this Act shall be amended as there provided (being amendments relating to the Gas Council).
(10)This section shall be construed as one with the principal Act.
The Minister may appoint from amongst persons appearing to him to be qualified as mentioned in paragraph (a) of section 5(4) of the principal Act (constitution of Gas Council) not more than three persons to be members of that Council in addition to the members provided for by paragraphs (a) and (b) of that subsection.
(1)No premises occupied for operational purposes by the Gas Council shall be liable to be rated, or to be included in any rate, or in any valuation list or valuation roll.
(2)For the purposes of section 6(1) of the [1955 c. 9 (4 & 5 Eliz. 2.).] Rating and Valuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1955, and of the corresponding Scottish enactment, gas supplied by the Gas Council to consumers at, or manufactured by the Council at, a place in Great Britain shall be treated as having been supplied or manufactured, as the case may be, by the Gas Board in whose area that place is situated.
(3)In estimating the number of therms supplied by a Gas Board—
(a)for the purposes of any adjustment to be made by reference to the standard number of therms fixed under section 11(2) of the [1958 c. 55.] Local Government Act 1958 (which amends the formula for the basic total of rateable values set out in Schedule 3 to the Rating and Valuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1955), or fixed under the corresponding Scottish enactment, and
(b)for the purposes of paragraph 4(3) of that Schedule (which provides for apportioning that total among rating areas and for ascertaining the proportion to be allocated to each area) and the corresponding Scottish enactment,
any gas supplied by the Gas Council to consumers at any place in Great Britain shall be treated as having been supplied by the Gas Board in whose area that place is situated.
(4)For the purposes of the said Schedule 3 and the said section 11, and of the corresponding Scottish enactments, any gas manufactured by the Gas Council shall be treated as having been manufactured by the Gas Board in whose area the gas is manufactured, and for the purposes of the said section 11, and of the corresponding Scottish enactment, any gas produced by the Gas Council by the application of a process to gas purchased by the Gas Council shall be treated as having been produced by the Gas Board in whose area the gas is so produced by the application of that process to gas purchased by that Gas Board.
(5)Paragraph 12 of the said Schedule 3, and the corresponding Scottish enactment, shall apply where a gasworks of the Gas Council is situated partly in one rating area and partly in one or more other rating areas as they apply where a gasworks of a Gas Board is so situated.
(6)For the purposes of section 11(3) of the [1958 c. 55.] Local Government Act 1958 (under which an adjustment is made in applying the said formula to gas purchased by a Gas Board), and of the corresponding Scottish enactment—
(a)no account shall be taken of gas purchased by a Gas Board from the Gas Council, and
(b)gas purchased by the Gas Council from any person other than a Gas Board shall be treated as having been purchased by the Gas Boards in the respective quantities settled by a scheme or schemes made from time to time by the Gas Council and approved by the Minister.
(7)In paragraph 5(b) of Schedule 3 to the [1925 c. 90.] Rating and Valuation Act 1925 as set out in section 41 of the [1962 c. 58.] Pipe-lines Act 1962 (rateability of pipe-lines) the reference to an Area Board shall include a reference to the Gas Council.
(8)The valuation officer for a rating area shall from time to time make such proposals as may be required for deleting from the valuation list any hereditament consisting of or comprising premises exempted by subsection (1) of this section, and, where such a hereditament comprises premises not so exempted, for including those premises in the list as one or more separate hereditaments.
(9)It is hereby declared that for the purposes of the Acts relating to rating which are mentioned in this section the expression " gas " includes gas in a liquid state, and that—
(a)the liquefaction of gas, and
(b)the evaporation of gas in a liquid state,
do not of themselves constitute the manufacture of gas or the application of a process to gas.
(10)In this section " occupied for operational purposes " means occupied exclusively for purposes connected with the powers conferred on the Gas Council by this Act, but premises so occupied do not include—
(a)premises in England and Wales used as a dwelling-house, or
(b)any shop, room or other place in England and Wales occupied and used by the Gas Council wholly or mainly for the sale, display or demonstration of apparatus or accessories for use by consumers of gas, or
(c)in Scotland, any premises which for the purposes of Part III of the [1956 c. 60.] Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956 would be excepted premises if the Gas Council were a Gas Board.
In determining for the purpose of paragraph (b) of this subsection whether any place is wholly or mainly occupied and used for the sale, display or demonstration of apparatus or accessories for use by consumers of gas, use for the receipt of payments for gas consumed shall be disregarded.
(11)In this section, in its application to England and Wales, expressions used in the [1925 c. 90.] Rating and Valuation Act 1925 have the same meanings as they have for the purposes of that Act and, in its application to Scotland, expressions used in the Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956 have the same meanings as in the said Act of 1956.
(12)For the purposes of this section—
(a)section 3 of the [1962 c. 9.] Local Government (Financial Provisions etc.) (Scotland) Act 1962 is the Scottish enactment corresponding to section 11 of the Local Government Act 1958 and paragraph (a) of the said section 3 is the Scottish enactment corresponding to subsections (2) and (3) of the said section 11;
(b)section 24(1) of the Valuation and Rating (Scotland) Act 1956 is the Scottish enactment corresponding to section 6(1) of the [1955 c. 9 (4 & 5 Eliz. 2.).] Rating and Valuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1955, Schedule 4 to the said Act of 1956 is the Scottish enactment corresponding to Schedule 3 to the said Act of 1955 and paragraphs 5 and 11 of the said Schedule 4 are the Scottish enactments corresponding respectively to paragraphs 4(3) and 12 of the said Schedule 3.